The school received £100 from the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations for developing a safe drop-off zone for children being brought to school by car. The award was matched by the county council’s Safe Routes to Schools Programme and the school plans to spend it on safety training equipment to raise awareness of road safety. The drop-off point, which removes the need for parents to drop their children directly outside the school gates, was started in 2003 and relies on a rota of 25 parents volunteering to stand in a marked area from which they walk the children to school. The school’s headteacher Margaret Heritage said: “It is too far for some of our families to walk and gives those parents who take other children on to other schools or who need to drop quickly in order to get to work an opportunity to do so quickly and safely. “The children love it too, because they get some extra playtime with their friends and can start the day having had fresh air and exercise.” Surrey Heath’s Safe Routes to Schools officer Wanda Cresswell said: “Valley End has shown how a simple local idea can gain national recognition. “If it helps other school communities to improve their own school gate safety, then that can only be good news for children.”